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legally incomprehensible the decision of the Court in this case. The appeal of
Messers Werema against Tanzania should be deemed inadmissible (ll).
l. That the Application was filed out of time is clearly established
5. The mere fact that an appeal is out of time obliges the judge to dismiss it,
whatever the cause. This is somehow a counterpart to the obligation on the
part of States to organize their judicial system in a way that ensures that their
courts can guarantee for everyone the right to obtain a final decision on
disputes within a reasonable time.
o
6. As has been stated, the dates, which are not contested by the Applicants,
indicate clear nine years between the Tanzanian domestic judges and the
date on which this Court was seised (2006-2015). Two elements, which are
fairly broadly recognized in the Court's jurisprudence could have interrupted
and reactivated these time frames; they are the present application for review
in this case (A) and the incident resulting from a letter from the Tanzania
Human Rights Commission(B). The inadmissibility of the application for
review as submitted confers no new right in as much as the appeal was
submitted out of time. The issue is therefore no longer that of exhaustion of
local remedies, since the local remedies had been exhausted in this case.
This can therefore be considered as having no legal effect, same as the issue
of the letter from the Tanzania Human Rights Commission referred to in the
case file.
A. The Applicants' Application for review was out of time, and hence
fruitless
o
7. The review remedy was one of the arguments available to reactivate the
case. lt is apparent from the case file that the application for review of their
conviction before the Court of Appeal was dismissed on the ground that it had
been brought out of time. An appeal may be considered only if it is positive,
regardless of its merits. lt legitimately must not amount to a maneuver or a
diversion. lt must fulfill the conditions of admissibility. The appeal for review of
a decision must itself be valid and must be filed within deadlines, if the appeal
is to reactivate the deadlines.
8. The applicants could have requested, and could still request, an extension
of time. Messers Werema do not challenge this observation, but instead
circumvent it through extra-judicial elements, elements that
justice
Tanzanian
refuses to internalize. Even if one holds the view that the
national judge must not lend himself to a rigid interpretation of the domestic
sought
to
2